Listen To The Silence by Sheryl

Interlude

Hands, suddenly, soft against his face, cool, gently wiping dampness.
Voice, soft as silk, soothing, flowing over and into him.
"Tell me sweetheart, what's troubling you?"
Eyes open now, onto the face of a much loved stranger, familiar and unknown.
"Who are you? I know you, I know you're..."
He halts, choking a little, stumbling over the concept.
"You know my taste, my feel, as I know yours. It's Cara, sweetheart. Tell me now. You're not alone anymore."
"Are you really here?"

His hands grip hers, comfortingly solid... but something in him knows.
"I am here... and not. Much as you were for Jesse... unlike you I can stay as long as you need me. Now tell me..."
He feels his face crumpling, feels the tears again.
"Jordan... Jordan." His sigh is deep, tortured, and his eyes wander away from her...
"He got hit, out on the road, the van hit him...Dannons van...I...don't know what to do now."
"I know about Jordan. Were you there? Did you see it?"
"I saw it..." His voice is bleak. "They used me... used us all, used us to find him and to... to... to AIM at him! Cara, they used me to kill him!!!"

Hands again, stroking his hair, her touch in his mind quieting him instantly.
"They didn't kill him, he's not dead."
"I don't know what to do... they all left me here..."
Her tone, slightly chiding.
"Sorry for ourselves now are we? What did they tell you to do?"
"To get Jesse... to make sure he gets to Sav..."
"Then that's what you're going to do. Now, tell me exactly what happened this morning."
"You already know"
"No, I don't. Will you tell me?"

He feels her body, suddenly, stretching out next to him, and unthinking he curls into her, head nestling into the comfort of her shoulder, sighing gratefully as her arm slips around him. She is his, she loves him...
Relief suddenly undoes him, and he feels his eyes tearing again, forgetting to fight it, feeling her hands in his hair, rubbing his arm, holding his hand, waiting.
He'll cry himself out and then he'll talk to her. This she knows and she is in no hurry.
Finally, finally, head stuffed, eyes aching, he pulls himself away a little, unapologetic.

"I'll tell you... but don't leave, alright?"
"Not until you tell me it's ok. As long as you need me to be here..."
He plunges... not daring to stop and think.
"He went out on the porch like he does every morning, and he called them, you know how he does that? He just signaled everyone and everyone was fine... everything was FINE Cara! He went up to get the mail, and all of a sudden it was just... just there!" "What was?"
"I don't... this horrible sort of taste, like hot metal. And it was hot feeling, like holding your hand under a magnifying glass, so the sun burns you. We all knew what it was at the same time, it was them... using us, using OUR energy to... to direct what they were doing... at Jordan. We tried... tried to warn him..."
Absent, brushing tears, unaware he's crying again.
"He heard us... half the world must have heard us, but it was too late. The van came around the corner just as we yelled, and they... they PUSHED him, right in front of it. He tried to jump out of the way but it... it hit him. Sav... Sav went crazy, he just ran to his car and went to Dan's... I don't know... he killed Kyle. I think he killed Dan..." "No..."

She felt her own internal heartbreak. Sav was her love, and his pain ate at her soul. That his mind had come so close to breaking had frightened her badly, but that fear... that fear had no place here... not if this boy was to survive.

"Dannon's not dead. What else happened?"
"Kellan... I remembered about Jesse. The ambulance was here, they were working on Jordan and I remembered about Jesse. I tried to tell Kellan and he hit me... told me it was all a dream. And Michael... Morianis... I saw him... twice. He was here... and he was with Sav, my God he's not even human! What are you people?!"
"Just people, sweetheart. Just people... what else happened?"
"He told me... to get Jesse. To find him and make him go to Sav. I don't know how I did that... but I did I know I did... but he's sick... I... really sick... and I think... we'll be lucky if he doesn't die before he gets here... I want to go get him..."
"He has to come on his own... it's important... Jordan now, what about Jordan?"
"They said his back's broken... and some ribs and his arm and leg... and he had something bleeding inside. They think he'll live but... I can't FEEL him anymore... he's not there... and he did something... right before this happened, he did something he was so guilty for... but he wouldn't tell me what it was... but it's making him want to die... and if he wants to I think he will"
"You think you know though, don't you, what he did."

His breath is shaky, his nod weak.
"I know. I know what he did. I know what he did and I know he hate's himself. Morianis told me... but I think I knew before he told me... Jordan took Sav's daughter. Only..."
His voice stops, puzzled. He knows there's something he's not getting, knows it as well as he knows the color of his own eyes. Something that just doesn't add up.
"He took her... because Sav needed to suffer... to be able to make Jesse trust him. Sav... had to hurt as much as Jesse hurts... but... but there's something else... because he also took her to protect her... so Dan's people couldn't get her... and I don't know how he could kill her... and protect her from being killed at the same time... and it hurts to think about it."

His arms slip back around her, one leg over hers, a child curled in bed with his mother.
"Cara I want to go home... I can't do this... I don't understand how can two things happen at once? How can people be two places at once? People are DYING, Cara!"
"War is like that."
"Is this war, then?"
"Of a kind."
"Angel's gonna die too, isn't she?"

Genuinely shocked, she pulls away a little, looking at him.
"What makes you say that?"
"It's what SHE says, Cara. She thinks it..."
"Then it may be. Don't worry about Angel. She's not someone anyone really needs to worry about."
"Why am I here?"
"Because they need your help."
"I don't want to stay here alone."
"Ask Kellan to come stay with you. He will."
"I don't think he likes me much..."
His fingers lightly touch his bruised eye.
"You mustn't take that personally... he was very frightened and very upset... he likes you very, very much."
He nods, somehow knowing he can accept her word, warmth beginning to steal into him, both from her body and her words.
"I'll ask him... Cara..."

His words break into a yawn, and he feels his eyes growing heavy, feels her hands again stroking his hair.
"I'm so tired..."
"I know. Sleep then, baby. I won't leave I promise."
He shakes his head, knowing that this is tiring her.
"You don't have to stay. I'll be alright. Just... stay where I can find you?"
"I'll stay until you sleep, and I'll leave the link open. All you'll have to do is call, and I'll be right here. Is that alright?"

His nod is vague, already almost asleep, and she waits, fingers idly twisting his hair until his breathing levels off, and his body relaxes.
Smiling a little, loving him, she pulls herself away, careful to leave the pathway between their minds open, as she's promised, mind re-uniting with body in her little nest of blankets on the floor of her apartment. Deeply she sleeps, mental hand holding tight to the equally deeply sleeping boy.

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